FAUNA OF THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS AND ALASKA PENINSULA 197 



The crested auklet winters around the Aleutian Islands, north- 

 ward in Bering Sea waters, and southward in the North Pacific. 

 Judging by Gabrielson's observations, they winter in great num- 

 bers in the Kodiak region. Some of the sea birds succumb in vio- 

 lent winter storms. A crested auklet was blown far inland about 

 September 21 or 22, 1937, and was found at Nulato, at least 85 

 miles from the nearest point in Norton Sound (Geist 1939). 



Residents on Unimak Island reported that sometimes they 

 find hundreds of dead crested auklets on the beaches. 



• 



Aethia pusilla: Least Auklet 



Attu: A-la-ma-gam hu-li-gi (see next species) 

 Atka: Choo-cheah 



Bent (1919) remarks, probably on the authority of Turner 

 (1886), that this bird is said to breed on Kodiak Island. We saw 

 none that far east in the breeding season, and Friedmann (1935), 

 who has recorded only a few winter specimens from that island, 

 rightly concludes that "it must be either very scarce, or local, or 

 of only sporadic occurrence." We saw none of these birds until 

 we reached the Aleutian Islands, and they do not nest on Amak 

 Island, where so many other species nest, though Turner (1886) 

 reported seeing it in that vicinity. 



Figure 37. — Least auklets. 



